Today we present the first part of a Mpongwe tale we recorded in 2009 in the outskirts of Libreville: the story of Ogoula and Ilombè, told by Jean Félix Ayenouet, one of the last great storytellers of the area.

This film shoot was made possible thanks to linguist Patrick Mouguiama-Daouda, who provides us here with a few keys to understand traditional Mpongwe narratives, including this particular tale:

“The Mpongwe oral tradition is marked by tales in which animals are wedged in specific roles: Ndjego the greedy and qualmless leopard, Eziwo, the uncommonly goofy antelope with a black stripe on her back, Nkunu the clever tortoise, etc. Yet some of these narratives do introduce human beings who also endorse distinctive personas: Ranyambè, the beheading king and his accomplice, Esérèngila, the fink, Marongè, the chameleon village idiot, Oboukwabukwé and his crippled body covered with yaws.

Other characters might step in some of the Ranyambè cycle tales: Ilombè, a beautiful woman who possesses mystical powers, and Ogoula, an ingenious boy gifted with uncommon skills. Both of them make appearances in other tales, with other characters. And so along with the Ranyambè cycles are also the Ilombè cycle, the particularly rich Ogoula cycle, and many more.

Eminent priest & scholar André Raponda-Walker from Gabon knew these tales and had translated them into French, though he never produced the original texts. The relevance of the narratives presented here holds to the restitution of the corpora written in Mpongwe, as their literal translation, henceforth possible, will eventually reveal the language’s fundamental structures.

Ayenouet Jean Felix, known as “Pap’Osingi” is a great storyteller recognized as such by his community. Deeply immersed in his traditions, he has contributed to save several of these narratives. Not so long ago he would still regularly tell these tales, at night, in his guard-house, surrounded by an enthusiastic audience. At over 80 years old, he no longer has the chance to do so. The traditional order has been destroyed, and the knowledge it conveyed has disappeared. Mpongwe isn’t handed down as much as it was before, and those who show a good use of the language seldom have knowledge of the oral tradition (tales, riddles, proverbs, etc.)

The following tale introduces typical features of the Mpongwe oral tradition, especially the narrative setting, insertion of songfables, digressions, unspoken references, and the storyteller/audience interactions. It starts off with a canonical opening sequence: Osèngè limbini (“the scene is set”). When the storyteller delivers this formula, the audience can answer Limibini! (“well set!”). This returns every now and then to chant along a song inset in the narrative, or to acknowledge the assistance’s interest in the ongoing tale.

“Osègè limbini…”

Many thanks to Angéla Ontchanga and Marguerite Amaka who were able to enlighten us on some of the characters’ names, which had found themselves somewhat confused in the original version. We took the freedom to rectify these in the subtitles.

Back next week for the second episode…

Linguist : Patrick Mouguiama-Daouda
Image & sound : Muriel Lutz
Editing : Caroline Laurent